Uys, P.M.
(1997, June). Supporting
Cyber Students over the Web: The On-Line Campus of
E-mail: philip.uys@globe-online.com
Personal
homepage: http://www.globe-online.com/philip.uys
If you need assistance in the strategic implementation of
e-Learning (networked education/distributed learning) in your institute, you
are welcome to contact philip.uys@globe-online.com to discuss your needs.
The challenge of supporting cyber students over
a distance was addressed at
The project is nick-named "hydi" derived from "hy-permedia
in di-stance education".
Key design principles of the On-line Campus were
(and are):
* simplicity
* clarity
* practical needs of cyber students and
* full learning support.
The On-line Campus contains the on-line courses
as well as all the elements to support our on-line students. The On-line Campus
is part of the vision to combine hypermedia on the World Wide Web (WWW) as a
distance learning medium with current educational strategies to provide
education to both overseas and
The main aims of the project are to increase
the quality of learningeducational
opportunitiesprofitstudent numbers andstaff productivity.
Supporting cyber students included constructing
appropriate
communication structures among students as well as between students
and lecturersenrolment for the on-line coursesbackground information on the institutedown
loading mechanisms for the coursesnavigational paths
and other facilities for different learning styleshelp
informationproviding an ability to publish directly
on the Web from within the On-line Campus.
One of the problems with traditional distance
education courses is the isolation that distance education students often
experience. They often don't know who their fellow students, previous students
or even their lecturers are!
Our attempts to solve this problem are currently
as follows:
2.1 One of the standard hyperlinks at the bottom
of each Web page in the courses is "Ideas Exchange".
Here students can
* place public messages
for other students on a dedicated message board - with or without an e-mail
address;
* place public messages
for the lecturer on a dedicated message board - with or without an e-mail
address;
* send private messages to the lecturer via
e-mail.
2.2 Once larger groups ("pockets") of
students in certain locations are established, it is envisaged that either
lecturers and support staff will visit on-line students (both overseas and New
- conduct student group
work
- present key lectures and
- address learning problems.
2.3 In some courses, students will be invited/expected to attend annual/semester workshops locally
at the
2.4 Future options to be researched
: Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Listservers,
Newsgroups, Video-conferencing and phone over the Web.
The Massey University at
The application form is presented as an HTML
form which is sent as e-mail to the relevant administration officer who then
generates an enrolment form which is mailed to the prospective student.
Payment can be done via bank transfer or other
general international measures for fund transfers. At this stage the On-line
Campus is not hosted on a secure server and credit card transactions are
therefore not considered to be a secure option. Other forms of
"virtual" money will still be investigated, but the more traditional
approaches will be used for the foreseeable future.
Students often have a desire to find out more
about the institute both before they make their choice of where to study as
well as afterwards to track new developments.
Prominent hyperlinks in the On-line Campus refer
to the Massey
University at Wellington Homepage which is a comprehensive guide to
the activities, support and courses at the
The pragmatic approach which is being taken in
the hydi project led to each on-line course being
zipped into a file (in a format appropriate for both PC and Macintosh
computers) that can be down-loaded by students onto their hard drives.
This was done to save students Internet access
costs and time and frustration of waiting for materials to be down-loaded item
per item.
The zipped course file is stored on the Web
server in a specially designated FTP (File Transfer Protocol) area which makes
it possible for the student to simply take the hyperlink and to indicate where
the file must be placed on their own computer.
In conjunction with this, a "Revisions
page" exists on the Web where all changes between the making
of the course zip files are listed to enable students to down-load these
specific amended Web pages.
Students have to be on-line to use Internet
related activities in the courses such as investigating other sites from the
"Library" section and the communication facilities.
6.1 Navigation
Two basic learning styles were addressed in
terms of navigation : the sequential
("narrative") and the random ("constructivist") learning
style.
The Web caters very naturally through hyperlinks
for the random learner. No strict sequence is built into the courses, although
some suggestions of a logical progression are made. The learner can thus take
any route through the content and activities; the only fixed requirement is
that the assessments need to be completed before credit can be obtained!
For the sequential learner, special measures are
taken in our on-line courses.
An overall clickable navigational "course
map" which is a graphical presentation of the proposed sequence of the
main sections in a course is presented at the start of the course. One of the
standard hyperlinks at the bottom of each page within a course is a link to
this "map" to help students orientate themselves whenever required.
From the page that contains the "course
map", students can also access an "Index" page which contains an
extensive list of most of the hyperlinks within the course. The inherent
capability of Web browsers to change the colour of
all followed links are used here, so that a student can access this page and
see exactly which parts of the course have been done and which parts have not
been visited. This facility is useful for both the random and the sequential
learner.
Within a course, each main section has a
clickable navigational "section map". While the student navigate
within a section, one of the standard hyperlinks at the bottom of each page
within that section is a link to the applicable "section map".
Below the "course map" and each
"section map" the graphically represented sections are sequentially
listed (and sometimes numbered) as text links. This is done for two reasons:
1. Some students might choose to go through the
course without seeing the graphics (standard feature of Web browsers)
2. The inherent capability of Web browsers to
change the colour of all followed links are also used
here, so that a student can see which parts of the course / section have been done
and which parts have not been visited.
6.2 Other facilities
Other facilities in the On-line Campus which
were included to support specific learning styles can be described in terms of
a common differentiation of learning styles ie
pragmatist, activist, reflective and theorist. (It is recognized that every
student has a blend of these - as well as other learning styles and
approaches).
In the On-line Campus a "Help" section
is included to assist students in a variety of areas. A hyperlink to this
"Help" section is included at the bottom of each Web page of the
On-line Campus for easy access.
Technical issues covered include:
more information on down-loading the zipped course filesetting up the Web browser to send e-maildown-loading applicable plug-ins for the Web browserminimum computer configuration required.
General aspects included are:
A message board in some courses is available for
students to publish completed work on the Web. This feature enables students
to:
* have their work critiqued by fellow students
* create a valuable resource for fellow current and future students
* personally experience Web publishing
* identify closer with the course materials and the tertiary institute.
Supporting cyber students include constructing
appropriate